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Vanguard mutual funds

The list below displays the lowest-cost share class available based on the criteria selected on the left. The minimum investment can vary by fund and share class. Select different criteria to see additional classes. Choose a fund name to view the fund profile for additional detail.

* Net realized capital gains, net investment income, and return of capital are estimated for the current year. Each January, Vanguard will report the actual return of capital for the funds. Your total payout will remain the same, but the percentage of the payout that equals return of capital (the principal value) and the amount that equals earnings (capital gains and dividends) may differ slightly.

* As applicable, money market data is updated on the day after the 2nd business day of each month. All other fund data is updated on the day after the 10th business day of each month.

The performance data shown represent past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate, so that investors' shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data cited.

Performance data for periods of less than one year do not reflect the deduction of purchase and redemption fees that may apply. All other performance data are adjusted for purchase and redemption fees, where applicable. Vanguard funds apply a $20 annual account service fee to all funds with balances below $10,000 in many types of accounts, unless an exception applies, which is not reflected in the figures. If this fee was included, the performance would be lower.

An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Although a money market fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in such a fund.

All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Be aware that fluctuations in the financial markets and other factors may cause declines in the value of your account. There is no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or mix of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you with a given level of income. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Vanguard provides services to the Vanguard funds and ETFs at cost.

For the 10-year period ended September 30, 2014, 10 of 10 Vanguard money market funds, 46 of 51 Vanguard bond funds, 17 of 18 Vanguard balanced funds, and 105 of 113 Vanguard stock funds—for a total of 178 of 192 Vanguard funds—outperformed their Lipper peer-group averages. Only funds with a minimum 10-year history were included in the comparison. Source: Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company. The competitive performance data shown represent past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results.See the most recent performance of our funds

SEC yield

A non-money market fund's SEC yield is based on a formula mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that calculates a fund's hypothetical annualized income, as a percentage of its assets. A security's income, for the purposes of this calculation, is based on the current market yield to maturity (in the case of bonds) or projected dividend yield (for stocks) of the fund's holdings over a trailing 30 day period. This hypothetical income will differ (at times, significantly) from the fund's actual experience; as a result, income distributions from the fund may be higher or lower than implied by the SEC yield.

The SEC yield for a money market fund is calculated by annualizing its daily income distributions for the previous seven days.

Record date

The date used to determine who is eligible to receive a company or fund's next distribution of dividends or capital gains.

Reinvest date

The date on which an investment's dividend or capital gains distribution is reinvested, if requested by the shareholder, to purchase additional shares. Also known as the ex-dividend date.

Payable date

The date when dividends or capital gains are paid to shareholders. For Vanguard mutual funds, the payable date is usually within two to four days of the record date. The payable date also refers to the date on which a declared stock dividend or bond interest payment is scheduled to be paid.

Distribution yield

The fund's current monthly income dividend per share, annualized (by dividing by the number of days in the month and multiplying by 365) and shown as a percentage of the fund's average net asset value (NAV) during the month.

Purchase fee

A fee charged by some mutual funds when an investor buys shares. The fee isn't a sales charge or load because it's paid directly to the fund to offset the costs of trading certain securities.

Redemption fee

A fee charged by some mutual funds and brokers when an investor sells shares within a specified, usually short, period of time. When charged by a mutual fund, a redemption fee differs from a back-end load because the money is paid back into the fund. Mutual funds generally adopt such fees to discourage market-timing.

Earnings growth rate

The average annual rate of growth in earnings over the past five years for the stocks in a portfolio.

P/E ratio

The price per share of a stock divided by its per-share earnings over the past year. For a portfolio, the ratio is the weighted average price/earnings ratio of the stocks it holds.

P/B ratio

The price per share of a stock divided by its book value (i.e., net worth) per share. For a portfolio, the ratio is the weighted average price/book ratio of the stocks it holds.

Return on equity

The amount, expressed as a percentage, earned on a company's common stock investment for a specific time frame. This figure tells shareholders how effectively their money is being utilized.

Beta

A measure of the magnitude of a portfolio's past share-price fluctuations in relation to the ups and downs of the overall market (or appropriate market index). The market (or index) is assigned a beta of 1.00, so a profile with a beta of 1.20 would have seen its share price rise or fall by 12% when the overall market rose or fell by 10%. At Vanguard, beta is based on returns over the past 36 months for both the fund and the index.

R-squared

A measure of how much of a portfolio's performance can be explained by the returns from the overall market (or a benchmark index). If a portfolio's total return precisely matched that of the overall market or benchmark, its R-squared would be 1.00. If a portfolio's return bore no relationship to the returns of the market or benchmark, its R-squared would be 0. At Vanguard, R-squared is based on returns over the past 36 months for both the fund and the index.

Duration

A measure of the sensitivity of bond—and bond mutual fund—prices to interest rate movements. For example, if a bond has a duration of two years, its price would fall about 2% when interest rates rose one percentage point. On the other hand, the bond's price would rise by about 2% when interest rates fell by one percentage point.

Yield to maturity

The rate of return an investor would receive if a security is held to its maturity date.

Share class

A mutual fund may offer more than one “class” of shares to investors. Each class represents a similar interest in the mutual fund’s portfolio but is offered at a different price. Fees and expenses will vary according to class; therefore, investment returns will differ.

Average Effective Maturity is defined as the average length of time until fixed income securities held by a fund reach maturity and are repaid, taking into consideration that an action such as a call or refunding may cause some bonds to be repaid before they mature.